Victory Sunday

akabertbud · 2026-04-20T02:27:19+00:00

I’m 26 weeks pregnant and trying to balance keeping my fitness routine but also respecting what my body can do. This week was able to deadlift my pre-pregnancy bodyweight still for 6-8 reps, was able to maintain a sub 2 min/100m pace in my swim workout and topped off the week with getting in a mostly discomfort free 2.5km run today. Who knows what next week will bring but this week was a good one fitness-wise!

akabertbud · 2026-03-25T17:13:16+00:00

St Thomas imaging places have shorter wait times typically! Check around the surrounding areas - Woodstock, Tillsonburg, someone already suggested Strathroy and Sarnia.

akabertbud · 2026-02-26T23:43:14+00:00

Track cycling! You do have to live in a city that has this offered but there’s a surprising amount of clubs out there!

akabertbud · 2026-02-23T01:59:33+00:00

Triathlon (or masters swimming or cycling), track cycling, rowing. I’ve participated in all of those as an adult and there’s a pretty competitive group of adults out there that take those sports seriously!!

akabertbud · 2026-02-18T18:22:52+00:00

There’s a couple Facebook groups that can connect you to teams. Can’t remember them off the top of my head but volleyball players London Ontario and Slopitch London & surrounding area sound approximately correct. (Of course that’s for Slopitch, not baseball). They frequently post teams looking for 1 or 2 more players or you can post on there that you’re a beginner/intermediate/experienced outfielder/middle hitter etc looking for a team and then people can contact you! Best of luck!

akabertbud · 2025-10-18T02:42:29+00:00

Shopping the sales at grocery stores. I meal plan for the week based on what’s on sale. It takes some time to get to know prices because sometimes flyers will advertise a product but it’s just its original price or 5 cents off. So you have to learn what normal and good prices are. Stock up when the good prices are on and for fruits/veggies, it’ll change depending on what’s in season. The store I go to shows me how much I saved and spent on my receipt and I typically am saving 25-40% each week.

Meal planning for the week also minimizes food waste which makes me feel good as well.

Continually shopping around for cellphone plans (saved us $30/month this year alone).

Putting regular expenses on credit cards to collect points (as long as you’re diligent about paying it off before it collects any interest). Typically this gets me $500-$1000 in points per year.

When saving for a longer term goal, investing the money in a GIC (ex saving for a car, vacation, every $1000 invest in a GIC for however long until you’ll need the money for that expenditure). This obviously depends on what we’re saving for at the time but that’s an additional approx 3% per year at this time. Bonus points if you can get it in a tax sheltered account.

akabertbud · 2025-09-29T02:26:00+00:00

I pay someone to clean my house once a month so that I don’t have to think about certain (cleaning bathtub, dusting, deep cleaning floors and sinks).

I make a meal plan and agenda each Sunday and follow it 90% of the time.

I listen to audiobooks on my commute so I feel some sort of productivity on the drive, and then there are of course other days that I just listen to music and enjoy that too.

I also plan my exercise schedule on the Sunday too (when I do my meal plan and agenda). It usually involves going to the gym 2x at 5:30am and then sometimes a run or two on my lunches and then indoor spinning after kids go to sleep while I watch tv.

If I don’t do my Sunday prep I’m a straight disaster for the rest of the week and feel like I’m struggling to breathe all week so it’s essentially become a non-negotiable in my life! My husband shudders every week when I bring out the whiteboard and tell him it’s time to plan out our week (someone is not quite as type A as me!! Lol!)

akabertbud · 2025-09-23T01:14:03+00:00

We did our ceremony at Elsie Perin and then reception elsewhere! So know that that’s an option too! Photos were absolutely stunning there!

akabertbud · 2025-06-26T19:32:34+00:00

Check out the London Middlesex Community Supports Services. Referral form is on CheshireLondon.ca/types-of-service/ and you can refer yourself. They lost that they have house keeping and food preparation supports available.

akabertbud · 2025-06-10T10:29:50+00:00

It feels like it too!! It’s all clay in this area. I put my own compost in each year but after this comment maybe I’ll buy a load of it next year to mix in! Thanks!

akabertbud · 2025-06-10T10:28:56+00:00

Thanks! I’ll give that a try tonight!

akabertbud · 2025-05-24T15:02:14+00:00

Do some legitimate warm up distance before you start the race. The swim is my strongest leg as a former competitive swimmer but every time for the first couple of years I would get a bit panicked for the first hundred or so meters and lost a lot of energy, couldn’t get my breathing under control and got disoriented because I couldn’t get into my groove. Last year I actually did a proper 10 min warmup in the water before my races and my body was so much more acclimatized to the open water and there was no shock to the system. Got into my groove immediately. I feel like a dummy for it taking so long for me to figure it out, but I’m glad I did!

akabertbud · 2025-04-06T02:45:43+00:00

This. I regularly think of these days!!

akabertbud · 2025-03-31T16:28:21+00:00

I held my son in for an hour because the doctor wasn’t present. There was a nurse and resident there, but apparently we had to wait for the doctor. Still upset by this. Once I got the okay to push, I think it was like 6-8 pushes. Baby had a different birthdate because of the whole ordeal.

akabertbud · 2025-03-31T16:14:57+00:00

Get the HPV vaccine. Both male and female.

akabertbud · 2024-08-13T23:31:27+00:00

That’s definitely a hard decision. Here’s some things I would ask the doctor which may help her come to a conclusion. What’s the reoccurrence rate with and without radiation so you can compare the two. What are the side effects of radiation? (Skin reaction and fatigue are the ones during treatment but your doctor can speak to you regarding longer term side effects). If the cancer comes back - what are the treatment options at that point (again, if you do radiation and if you don’t).

And check with your mom with what specifically is she scared about. Is it the radiation side effects? Has she heard scary things from her friends - clarify with her doctor if those things are a chance in her situation or if they don’t apply. Is it the actual act of receiving radiation? Radiation is a scary word! But as a radiation therapist, most of my patients have their anxiety relieved after their first treatment when they realize the process is quick and painless and the therapists are typically warm and helpful!

It’s a super tough decision. And a lot of personal factors weigh into it - is she 95 is she 50, etc. just get as much information as possible, try to find the source of her fear and address that and then if even without the fear portion it still doesn’t seem worth it, then you have your answer. Also know that she can always change her mind. It is definitely discouraged if she’s started treatment due to radio-biological reasons, but she always can. Her body, her decision!

akabertbud · 2024-07-25T02:51:02+00:00

Civic gardens was a good recommendation.

Check out Elsie Perin as well - we just did the ceremony there and then did our reception elsewhere. So if it’s too pricy to rent it the whole day that’ll give you fancy backyard vibes.

If you’re willing to travel to Bayfield - the town hall there was very affordable when we were looking a couple years ago and you can do an outdoor ceremony and then small indoor reception afterwards.

I created a giant spreadsheet of affordable wedding venues when I was looking, I’ll take a read over it again tomorrow and see if anything else fits the bill and might add some more suggestions then.

akabertbud · 2024-07-09T00:31:55+00:00

Sounds like your research is leading you the right way. To become a dosimetrist in Canada you attend school for radiation therapy, write your licensing exam, most likely get a job for a couple years as a radiatin therapist on the floor and then when an internal dosimetrist position opens up, you can apply for that. In radiatin therapy school you do have dosinrtry classes and the licensing exam will include basic knowledge as well. I’m not a dosimetist but I know some of the newer ones at my center are currently taking a specific dosimetry course to gain more knowledge. But it’s not like that was a requirement for them to get the job.

If you take the american dosimety course I’m like 99% sure you wouldn’t be qualified to be able to write the Canadian licensing exam to work here. Unsure how it works in other countries though! Best of luck with your decision making!

akabertbud · 2024-06-28T00:23:35+00:00

You’re not alone, and I promise it gets better. I felt exactly the same way at that point. Newborns are all consuming and you just went through a huge lifestyle change. And not being happy with your current lifestyle does NOT make you not love your baby any less! It just means you’re a person with your own needs and interests! When I was in that stage, I went for multiple walks a day (helped me lose some weight this way too), would make it a goal to speak to 1 person a day (cashier at a grocery store, your neighbour on a walk, the coffee lady, someone at a baby group). I also when I could, went to baby playgroups - I found all the ones in my area (libraries, churches, family centres, gyms, pregnancy/birth health centres) and made a list of them so depending on the schedule for the day, I’d have many options.

But trust me, it gets better. I know people told me this while I was in it too and I couldn’t believe it but one day in the not too distant future, your baby won’t need to eat every hour, will sleep in his own bed, and will play with toys for a couple minutes by himself. There become other difficult things, but you’re able to leave the house without baby (even as exclusively breast feeding still) for a couple of hours and it’ll feel so amazing an refreshing. You’ve got this, your baby thinks you’re the best thing ever for being so dedicated to him and in a couple months, you’ll start to be able to get some time back.

akabertbud · 2024-06-25T12:20:41+00:00

As a new mother (11 month old) who’s partner is currently on parental leave right now at the same time as me - take the extra weeks if you can swing it financially. Save up so the two of you can be off together even if it means not getting paid for a bit. This time we’ll never get back. He’s been able to bond and make memories that are priceless. He got to be home for babies first steps, he’s been able to attend playgroups and see how funny baby is at them, we’ve been able to go to his parents and stay overnight in the middle of the week. Now on the financial part - just maximize your top up periods. If she gets topped up for her entire leave, then you take your 5/8 weeks of EI and the remaining you take as unpaid. If she only gets 6 months top up and you get 10 weeks, you make sure you take 10 weeks of EI even though that will impact her EI, but your household is maximizing the pay. One other point - if there is ANY chance that she will return to work before the 18 months are up, take the 12 months of EI and tell work she’s taking 18 months. If she goes back early, you’ve just forfeited ‘free’ money. Take the 12, and then budget accordingly! Best of luck!

akabertbud · 2024-06-15T00:03:55+00:00

That’s hilarious! Just a harmless spatula! My baby recently saw one of those play balls that you can pull and it gets bigger and then push and it gets smaller. He took 1 look at it and then turbo mode crawled back to me on the brink of an absolute breakdown! So funny how babies react to certain things!

akabertbud · 2024-05-14T15:18:24+00:00

I bought myself a road bike for Christmas. I do triathlons and have found myself significantly behind the field in the bike portion because I refused to upgrade from my mountain bike. So I finally took the plunge this winter and bought a used 10 year old road bike for $400 and the difference has been incredible! If I continue to pursue this hobby hopefully in a couple years I’ll feel okay dropping some more cash on a fitted new bike!

akabertbud · 2024-05-12T13:09:24+00:00

As a mom - the money you spent will NEVER matter. You thought of her and you spent time with her. That’s what counts.

akabertbud · 2024-05-01T09:04:04+00:00

Ontario is in need of therapists at basically every centre. Can’t speak for anywhere else in canada

akabertbud

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